


Hyposensitivity

by athanova



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, manga personalities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 19:17:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8114293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athanova/pseuds/athanova
Summary: Kaworu and Shinji are trying to work through their relationship and their unusual situation as test subjects and co-workers in a neurological laboratory called NERV





	1. Anxiety

Shinji groaned and placed his head inside his locker, “Close the door would you?”

Kaworu sighed and crouched down to his backpack, “Shinji, I can’t decapitate you”, he pulled out a cigarette from its box, “Also, that sort of behavior is harmful to you”.

Shinji snorted, “You’re one to talk”, “And you shouldn’t smoke inside the building, it’s like you want to get into trouble”.

He stood up with cigarette in his mouth and pulled the other closer to him.

Shinji pouted at him.

He continued, “You should cheer up, we have the rest of the day to ourselves”

Shinji pulled the cigarette away from Kaworu’s lips, “I know”, and threw away the offending object into the nearest trash can.

The other just pulled out another one and lit it, taking a long drag from it. He exhaled loudly, looking at Shinji with his chin tilted up and from the bottom of his eyes as if to challenge him. He smirked when Shinji made a grab at him.

Shinji in retort sprayed his face with his water bottle.

 

\-------------

Kaworu was standing under the roof of the bus station listening to the harsh sounds of rain drops hitting metal. His fingers were cold.

He sighed as he dropping his backpack on the wet ground and turned to look around.  
There was no one in the street and there were no cars, it was his chance.

The boy stepped out from under his cover. The cold rain felt like an electric shock going through his body as the cold water seeped through his clothes in a matter of second, the impact of thousands of drops felt like needles. 

He closed his eyes, extended his arms upward and smiled.

\------------- 

“Was that ok?”

Shinji just kissed him on the mouth. He felt hot and cold at the same time. He was closely watched for a reaction but his eyes were still closed.

“I’m guessing it was pretty bad”, Shinji said in rejection.  
He managed to open his mouth without stuttering, “It was great, I’m just…overwhelmed”

“Oh”, Shinji sighed. 

Kaworu licked his lips; he could still feel the soft pressure from the kiss. 

“Does it mean I can return the favor?”

“That would be preferable, yes”.

He scratched at his arm absentmindedly, “I don’t know how to start”.

“You could try by placing you lips on mine you idiot”. 

“Ha, I guess”.

They both giggled as Kaworu placed his hands on Shinji’s face. He parted his lips slightly to lock his lips with him.

A pleased humming sound told him he was doing well.

\-------------

 

“I dreamed I was a man living in an isolated farm”.

Shinji lowered his soda can to stare at his boyfriend, “What?”

Kaworu stretched the gum he was chewing with his fingers to reach his nose, “Mmm, it was really cold there and I think I had some sheep and cows”, he put his gum back into his mouth much to Shinji’s disgust.

Shinji put down his can on the table between them, “You need to start writing books or something”

Kaworu was now trying to blow bubbles without much result.  
He was in the middle of a half successful attempt when an angry voice spoke from behind them. “Fuck, that’s gross”.

They both turned to look at Asuka, their co-worker. She was staring at Kaworu like he had a public toilet seat for a face.

“What are you doing?”, she spat.

Kaworu chewed slowly and answered quietly, “I’m chewing gum?”

“Yeah, no shit”

The redhead turned to look at Shinji “You two should know that our tests were moved two hours earlier, so you and gum-boy over there need to prepare your selves and be there in 15 minutes”

Said gum-boy spat out his gum into his palm and yelled, ”But I need to have some rest time before the tests!”.

Asuka just shrugged, “Don’t complain to me I only deliver the news, Dr. Akagi is in her office you can talk to her instead”.

But Kaworu wasn’t having any of it, “It puts us under extreme mental strain! They can’t just do that!”

Shinji patted him on the shoulder, “I’m sure it’ll be fine we have done this before”.  
He knew those test were rough on Kaworu, but they didn’t have a choice but to do as they were told.

Kaworu groaned and slammed his head on the tables shaking Shinji’s soda can.

“I hate this”

Asuka rolled her eyes, “You guys are so whiney. It’s only a sync test. No one is going to probe your asses”.

Kaworu pulled a face at that. 

She turned away, “Whatever, just don’t be late”.

Kaworu watched her leave and started talking when he was sure she was out of hearing range. “Do you think we’ll have to go through probing too?” he whispered.

Now it was Shinji’s turn to slam his head on the table.

 -------------

They were now sitting on a bench in the waiting room. Shinji rested the back of his head against the cool, white wall and dosed off. 

Kaworu leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.  
The cigarette between his fingers was getting shorter as he took another drag and exhaled slowly, watching the smoke swirl and rise, it made the room foggy.  
It became a habit for him lately, spacing out and watching the smoke. 

He felt on edge lately and it scared him, he wasn’t used to these sorts of emotions. He wasn’t meant to feel them. He wasn’t meant to feel anything.

He wiped his mouth and turned to look at Shinji.

The other boy wasn’t aware of Kaworu’s anxieties. No, Kaworu made sure he didn’t know. He didn’t want to make him worry and fuss over him.

He sighed and looked at his smoke, he needed something stronger. 

He took another trag.

\------------- 

“Ok, now Shinji, when Kaworu lifts his arm up you’ll feel the need to lift yours as well”.

Shinji and Kaworu were facing each other, a glass panel divided them. Both boys were hooked to different wires and tubes that connected to the different machines that displayed their vital signs and brain waves.  
Shinji had his face covered with a headset that resembled a biker helmet while Kaworu only wore a small device that resembled two white hairclips.

Shinji lifted his right arm gingerly after he felt a small tag in his mind and arm. It was faint, almost like the smoke from Kaworu’s cigarettes.

Akagi’s voice echoed in the large room again. “Perfect, Now Kaworu will be the receiver, Shinji please step forward”

 

He stepped forward moving his right foot first, Kaworu moved soon after with his eyes closed.  
Their steps were in sync both in pace and direction and every time one of them would move a finger or roll a shoulder the other would follow.

Shinji felt his heart rate speed up when he thought about how Kaworu could feel his muscles move. It was almost like he was in his mind. It was scary.

Misato whispered something in Akagi’s ear and the blonde women nodded.

“Mhmm, I see”

“Boys, we’ll make this a bit more challenging for you.”

Kaworu twitched sending the sensation to Shinji. He gulped; this wasn’t going to be pleasant.


	2. Synthetic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaworu risks more than Shinji thinks he should.

“We already have all the data regarding your responses towards each other’s muscles activities, we now want to experiment with sensory stimuli, in other word, pain.”

The sounds of the machines were the only sounds in the room for a while, as the couple registered Dr. Akagi’s words.

Dr. Akagi continued, “We will start small, both of you will receive a stimuli, in this case a lab worker will sting your finger tip with a sterile needle, if you feel the other’s pain you will report it back to me immediately. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am”

Misato got up from her sit, “You guys can remove your head gears. You have until tomorrow to relax while we set up the equipment.”

Kaworu removed his headset and felt Shinji’s presence disappear from his mind.

The face staring back at him was terrified. 

////////

They walk back to the changing room was silent, they both changed back into their scrubs without looking at each other.

Kaworu couldn’t take the tense silence anymore, he had to say something.

“Shinji, it’s not going to be bad we knew what the tests were going to be like”.

Shinji avoided looking him in the eye, “I know but you are the one who should be worried, I’m scared about you”.

Kaworu scratched the back of his neck, “I don’t know what you mean”.

Shinji chewed the inside of his cheek, and looked at his shoes.  
“You are Hyposensitive Kaworu…”

The paler boy hummed.

“And this might hurt you”.

He looked up.

Shinji was looking sadly back at him.

“I won’t hurt myself if that’s what you mean, I will be under constant observation”.

Shinji chewed on his lips, “Are you sure you want to do this?” “I mean we have team 00 to do this as well, I bet I could ask Rei to volunteer”. 

Kaworu shook his head, “No way, we made it this far. The neuro connections took months to build, and they are working on a different experiment. It’ll throw everything off”.  
He took Shinji’s hand, “Don’t you want to finally see the breakthrough we were working so hard on?”

“O-Of course I do! But I can’t help but worry about you”.

Kaworu scanned the changing room and whispered, “Dr. Akagi and the research team told me my neuro connections are more stable now, which means I can handle this like a regular human being”.

Shinji inhaled sharply, “and your metabolic functions?”

“Are all clear actually”, he replied and brushed his nose against Shinji’s ear.

The other boy shuddered and hugged him tightly.

 

////////

 

The two returned to their shared apartment not far from NERV’s main labs. Shinji entered the kitchen to prepare lunch while Kaworu went into the bathroom.  
He closed the door behind him with a soft click. The mirror in their bathroom was foggy from the moisture as he looked at his reflection.  
Red eyes. Red eyes were staring back at him, the soft hallow of silver hair and his pale skin all made him obvious. Synthetic.

 

////////

 

“Lab rat! Lab rat!”  
He looked at the door where the other children were laughing. He was sitting on a low stool as a nurse pierced his skin with a needle.

“Don’t pay attention to them dear”, she said.

He didn’t mind, he found it kinda funny how they were all here as text subjects but he was the only one who was considered a lab rat by them. But it was true.  
He wasn’t real like they were, they needed food and sleep, and they could feel the chair they were sitting on.  
////////

“Kaworu! Food is ready!”

Kaworu woke from his haze in a startle. He quickly washed his face and went into the kitchen.

Shinji was already sited at the dinner table; he looked up at Kaworu’s face and scrunched his brow. “Are you ok?”

He didn’t want to worry him so he used his calm voice to answer, “Yes, I’m just tired”  
He twisted his steaming noodles with his chopstick and slurped them. “It’s really good” , he chewed.

“And boiling hot yet you just slurped them without flinching”. 

Shinji was staring at him furiously, “You said your neuro connections are functioning”.

The tense silence from before was back. Kaworu swallowed, “I guess I still sometimes malfunction…”

Shinji suddenly got up from his sit causing his chair to fall.  
“Do you still go out to search for stimuli?”  
Searching for stimuli was a nickname for Kaworu’s self-harming behaviors.

He didn’t answer.

“Tell me!”

Kaworu nodded slowly. Shinji inhaled shakily, “When was the last time?”

Kaworu looked down at his feet, “Last week, after work I went out in the storm”.

Shinji took another shaky breath and run into their bedroom.

Kaworu couldn’t feel worse at that moment.

//////// 

“Nagisa this is Mr. Ikari you will be lab partners and research team no.01”

“Nice to meet you”, Shinji extended his hand to Kaworu who stared at it in confusion.  
Dr. Akagi whispered in his ear, “You’re supposed to shake his hand”.

“Oh!”, Kaworu shook Shinji’s hand, “Sorry about that”.

“That’s ok, Mr. Nagisa”, Shinji smiled politely.

“Call me Kaworu”.

Shinji blushed, ”Oh, ok Kaworu. Call me Shinji than”.

////////

 

He decided that the best thing to do would be to give Shinji some time to relax. He went out to the small playground behind their apartment complex and sat down at one of the wooden benches. There was an earthy smell in the air and everything was moist from the resent rain.  
He took out a cigarette and lighted it behind his palms with his silver lighter. As soon as he inhaled and felt his lungs feel up with the smoke he felt a little lighter.  
He continued sitting there smoking until he almost reached the filter, a thought came up in his mind.  
He examined the short bud between his finger tips and then pressed it down his left forearm.  
It hurt and he felt tears sliding down his face as the cigarette burned his white skin; the pain gradually subsided into a numb buzzing sensation. His nerves no longer reacted to the stimuli.

 

////////

Shinji has wrapped himself in his blankets and stared at the wall beside him. He was scared and hurt. The test tomorrow will have them both experiencing gradual pain levels, and Kaworu…that idiot still doesn’t care about his own well-being. Shinji huffed and turned over to stare at the bedrooms door. He heard Kaworu exit the apartment and knew he just wanted to give him some time alone. Still, he wanted him to come back and hug him. And then maybe give a smack up the head. Just for good measure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope my writing is more fluid in this chapter. It's a bit more serious but I had to write it this way.
> 
> Please tell me if there are any grammar mistakes and such, I want to improve my English!

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first multi-chapter fic I ever wrote, I hope it's not too bad.
> 
> *English is my third language so if there are any mistakes please tell me! I want to improve.


End file.
